1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to infusion pumps. More particularly, this invention relates to infusion pumps having function keys for recalling critical operational data during medication infusion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Means for supplying patients with fluid medication for sustained periods in a controlled manner is well known in the art. One such commonly known and well recognized means is a bag filled with fluid medication which was fed into the patient by gravitational force through intravenous tubing having drip or other controllers. More specifically, a sterile container such as a glass or plastic bottle, or a plastic bag was attached to one end of a drip chamber, and the other end of the same was attached to a tube. The drip chamber allowed the fluid to flow one drop at a time, and the tube had an attached hollow needle that was inserted into the vein. Further connectors could be attached to the tube, which permitted other fluid medication to be delivered through the same needle. The adjustability of the flow rate in such prior devices was quite limited, however, and a variety of expensive and complicated flow control valves and devices have been developed. Where fluctuations in the flow rate were not critical, the aforementioned gravity drip system continues to be used for its utter simplicity.
In an attempt to obtain even greater control over the flow rate, peristaltic and other electrically driven pumps were developed. Conventional peristaltic pumps typically have a section of resilient tubing positioned between a wall and a set of rollers or reciprocating pushers that progressively compress sections of tubing to facilitate the pumping of a liquid therethrough. Such peristaltic pumps known in the art include teachings from U.S. Pat. No. 2,877,714 to Sorg, et al. Improvements thereto have also been made, such as those teachings of a curvilinear peristaltic pump in U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,732 to Moubayed, et al., a linear peristaltic pump in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,852 to Moubayed, et al., and a curvilinear peristaltic pump with occlusion detection means in U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,881 to Moubayed, et al., which are wholly incorporated by reference herein.
In the more advanced infusion pumps, all aspects of operation came to be governed by a central processing unit. A software application running on a microcontroller within the pump selectively transmitted signals to a motor that drove the pump based on the parameters interactively set by the user via input from a keypad while viewing the results of that interaction on readout displays. Memory modules operatively connected to the microcontroller stored the operator inputted parameters, as well as the various interactive menus which were presented to guide the operator through the various settings. In general, the microcontroller was understood to be in two separate states—the first being the configuration stage, where the operator could navigate a series of on-screen menus to select the appropriate treatment for a patient, and the second being the infusing stage, where the previously set treatment was administered to the patient. While the function keys enabled the operator to interact with the pump during the configuration stage, the keys provided no functionality while in the treatment phase, and merely provided a miniscule amount of information related to the current state of the treatment. Since the screen size was limited, there was no way to provide all of the relevant information at once.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an infusion pump having the ability to selectively display operational information. Further, there is a need for an infusion pump having function keys which enabled the operator to configure the operational parameters during a configuration stage, and the same function keys enabling the operator to view relevant data while the treatment is being administered. Still further, there is a need in the art for an infusion pump with function keys which retrieves and groups a series of relevant data and displays the same on a screen by activating a particular key, and which retrieves and groups another series of relevant data and displays the same on a screen by activating another particular key. These needs and more are fulfilled by the present invention, the details of which are discussed more fully below.